WAGES ON PLANTATIONS. ‘ © 3901 
the rates of wages are appreciably lower than in adjacent ones and that 
they should and could be raised at least to the general level : this would 
be secured bv the adoption of such a svstem. 
Experience in Cevlon. 
Through the courtesy of the Colonial Office, the Ceylon Govern- 
ment and the Ceylon Planters’ Association, we were enabled to see 
at first hand conditions of employment in the Ceylon plantations 
and to obtain advice regarding the working of the recent minimum 
wage ordinance. We do not seek to minimise the fact that the 
impetus to the inauguration of a legal minimum wage, both here and 
in Malaya, came from the Indian Government, and that employers, 
realising that their supply of labour, and therefore the very existence 
of their industry, was ultimately dependent on the good-will of the Indian 
Government, were not altogether free agents in the matter. However, 
the information which we received indicates that there is general agreement 
that the introduction of the minimum wage in Ceylon has been beneficial. 
Without placing any undue burden on the industry, it has guaranteed 
protection to the worker of his standard of living and to the employer from 
undercutting by his fellow planter. It was clear to us that it was receiv- 
ing the whole-hearted co-operation of the planting community, and, as a 
result, was working successfully to the mutual benefit both of employer 
and employed, and with the minimum expenditure by Government 
upon enforcement costs. Indeed, we did not find any planter, whether 
speaking individually or on behalf of his Association, who advocatzd 
the repeal of the minimum wage ordinance and a return to the condi- 
tions prevailing prior to its inauguration. 
Obiections to Statutory Wace Rerulation. 
The representatives of the Indian tea industry who appeared 
before us were unanimously opposed to any scheme of wage regulation, 
perhaps not unnaturally ; most official witnesses were also doubtful 
as to whether it would prove a practical proposition. The objections 
raised, however, appear to be due to a misconception as to its object aud 
the method of its operation. There is, in the first place, the fear that 
wage rates would be raised unduly, and that the less prosperous gardens 
would be driven out of existence. These apprehensions were urged 
in Ceylon when statutory wage regulation was first mooted, but they 
have not been borne out by experience. The successful operation of 
wage-fixing machinery necessitates consideration of the question with 
close relation to the economic effects of any proposed rate upon the 
industry, and it is not likely that a properly constituted wage board 
would take action which would have the effect of bringing about a 
contraction in the industry and in the extent of employment open to 
labour in Assam. A more serious objection is that raised as to the prac- 
ticability of applying statutory rates to work of the kind done on Assam 
plantations. It is urged that the character of the work varies from